What's the worst station you've been in

[B&MBoy1982]

Cincinnati Greyhound station! Downright rude!

 

Nairobi Train Station at BGT can get extremely hot in the summer time.

[yankeeman311]

El Toro's annoys the hell out of me. People refuse to say excuse me and push their way through so the whole queue gets backed up meanwhile the back half of the train is empty.

[rustyinpeace]

Don't know if SFMM ever fixed this, but by far the most frusterating station was Green Lantern's. It wasn't necessarily the station itself, but how the line runs right beneath the loading platform and splits off in the end. Since the space is walled in with metallic sheets, it literally turns the place into an oven and traps the heat when it's already scorching outside. Unfortunately, this room was jam packed with people when I visited, making the place hotter, the line slower, and the wait sweatier.

[no_brain_er]

I'm kind of surprised nobody mentioned SFOG's Scream Machine.

 

It's another one where the line empties into the front of the station. After all of those switchbacks, the tiny ramp onto the station platform dumps everyone right into the "line" for the front row, so almost nobody moves except when the trains get loaded. The one good thing is that, if you can force your way through the front-of-the-train nonsense, you get a great seat almost anywhere in the back of the train, and the most you usually have to wait is a train or two.

[simaticable]

I'm kind of surprised nobody mentioned SFOG's Scream Machine.

 

It's another one where the line empties into the front of the station. After all of those switchbacks, the tiny ramp onto the station platform dumps everyone right into the "line" for the front row, so almost nobody moves except when the trains get loaded. The one good thing is that, if you can force your way through the front-of-the-train nonsense, you get a great seat almost anywhere in the back of the train, and the most you usually have to wait is a train or two.

I have forgotten about GASM's station. I have to agree with you on that one.

[coastercoaster5]

FULL THROTTLE at SFMM!!!

 

There is no real structure, there are just beams of steel that go up and it looks like a crappy concert stage. Oh and how could i forget the cheap tarp they throw over it!

[necoastergp]

Riddler's Revenge at SFMM was a huge clusterf***, when I visited in 2010. A station wait with a gold flash pass took what seemed like forever.

[thrillerman1]

^ That sounds like my visit 4 years earlier!

[MrSum1_55]

My answer would be several coasters at Magic Mountain. RR and Superman for having bent rows, which are always a terrible idea. What is even worse is that on Superman they assign seats, yet the ops do nothing to combat the fact that the rows are bent. So, even the seat assigning can cause you to wait considerably longer for a particular row, which is exactly what the concept of assigning seats is supposed to prevent. Only SFMM could screw this system up so well.

 

Also, I second YOLOcoaster. It is a platform with a tarp over it. Also, the station gives you a good view of how ugly the surrounding area has become; what was once a nice area filled with trees is now a dirt mound on a hill. YOLOcoaster is really the epitome of an SFMM coaster. It has an ugly station, a hideous landscape, low capacity, and it is a very gimmicky ride overall.

[kidcoaster 2]

Agreed at about El Toro, but I think my worst was Skyrush for obvious reasons.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Outlaw Run's station is actually kind of messy. But all the wonderful theming made it better.

[A.J.]

Agreed at about El Toro, but I think my worst was Skyrush for obvious reasons.

Am I the only person who is actually okay with Skyrush's station? I have never had a bad experience. The attendants do everything they can to make sure the loading area isn't super-crowded, they let you pick a row if they haven't already sent a group there, there's a nice roof over your head...

 

I feel like the single-sidedness just gives people an excuse to complain. It's not so bad.

[Dr. M]

Agreed at about El Toro, but I think my worst was Skyrush for obvious reasons.

Am I the only person who is actually okay with Skyrush's station? I have never had a bad experience. The attendants do everything they can to make sure the loading area isn't super-crowded, they let you pick a row if they haven't already sent a group there, there's a nice roof over your head...

 

I feel like the single-sidedness just gives people an excuse to complain. It's not so bad.

 

When it opened it was much worse due to the bins and the operations. Now I don't think it's bad at all, if only because you're only in there a really short time. My only complaint is couldn't they have made the ceiling a little higher? I also happen to think the outside looks nice too. Ever notice the pretty decorative lamps? At least they tried.

 

I've never been there but I'll put this here anyway: is there another station as ridiculously minimalistic as YOLO's new station? Seriously, I'm curious.

[screaminkid2005]

Worst to work in, Thunderbolt at SFNE (it's frustrating...simple as that)

 

So true!

 

Some of the worst that I personally have issues with are Skyrush (Circa 2012), Riddler's Revenge, and Magnum.

 

Skyrush- Way to small and I hated the fact that you entered and exited on the same side of the station. Makes for horrible loading and unloading times.

 

Riddles- I'm personally not a fan of the diagonal loading rows.

 

Magnum- while the station looks cool, I think its just too big and cause a big mess if a bunch of people are let in.

[FreeFaller]

I hated Superwirbel's station! There were two lines that were meant to go to every car, but people thought the left one was only for the first car and there always was a HUGE line, even though you could use both lines to enter the station! ARGH

[rctneil]

What bugs me about stations is sometimes you can choose your own row and others not. This even varies between rides in a single park. I realise this can depend on the type of ride etc but at Alton you can choose a row on Nemesis and Air but are forced to a row on Rita, 13 and the Smiler.

 

The Smiler station platform itself is not bad, but the queues all converge in a room downstairs and they are all chained across, the single riders, disabled, fasttrack and normal. Now, the ops release the chain from one queue at a time but all people have to walk to the right to drop their bags off at the counter and turn 180 round walk back past everyone and up the stairs. No one keeps their queue position (not that your position changes massively but can be annoying after a long wait). I'm sure a bit of extra thinking could have avoided this.

 

I also hated the queue up to Space Invader 2. Very very claustrophobic. The queue for Wild Mouse also at Blackpool is very narrow.

 

Airs station regularly confuses people due to the dual station approach and how people should get off the platform up to the shop. I guess this comes down to people not reading the signs.

 

Oblivions station has a strange design but works quite well although a lot of people moan to ops as they don't understand it. The design allows two shuttles to fill up at the same time but hold 4 shuttles worth of people in the station at once:

 

----------------------------
  < 1 <              < 2 >
----------------------------
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^
^ ^  ^ ^            ^ ^  ^ ^

 

 

The queues for 1 shuttle alternate between the first row for the front and back and then the second row for the front and back. Not seen any other ride use this and it's works nicely.

[coasterbill]

I know everyone complains about single-side loading and unloading but I haven't seen any mention of the Wingriders. Gatekeeper for example beat the numbers of every other coaster at Cedar Point this year by a mile, and they got those trains in and out incredibly quickly. I understand why flush loading is more convenient, but does it really make THAT big of a difference?

 

I know Cedar Point's numbers aren't entirely based on capacity and popularity / up-time plays a part too but for Gatekeeper to handily beat Raptor's numbers the way it did is impressive, and Gatekeeper is load / unload on the same side for obvious reasons.

 

I've never operated a coaster so I'm just speaking from my own personal observations. I'd love to hear from someone who has a little more knowledge on this about how much of an issue this really is.

[Hurricane]

Dreamworld's Cyclone is pretty bad... you spiral around the outside of the queue building (that used to be the exit) and after the train has come back from it's cycle the operator then walks a good 15m worth of useless tunnels to where your standing. You then walk through to the station and stand behind 1 of 6 doors for another minute or so before they open the doors to load the trains. The total time is generally around 10 minutes between dispatches. It's just so inefficient, hot and stuffy especially in the Australian summer. Such a useless design!

[Dr. M]

I know everyone complains about single-side loading and unloading but I haven't seen any mention of the Wingriders. Gatekeeper for example beat the numbers of every other coaster at Cedar Point this year by a mile, and they got those trains in and out incredibly quickly. I understand why flush loading is more convenient, but does it really make THAT big of a difference?

 

I know Cedar Point's numbers aren't entirely based on capacity and popularity / up-time plays a part too but for Gatekeeper to handily beat Raptor's numbers the way it did is impressive, and Gatekeeper is load / unload on the same side for obvious reasons.

 

I've never operated a coaster so I'm just speaking from my own personal observations. I'd love to hear from someone who has a little more knowledge on this about how much of an issue this really is.

 

I agree. With how efficient Skyrush's operations have become, I honestly doubt it makes much difference at all. So the disembarking riders pass by the people taking their place. So what? Why should that seriously affect capacity?

[ajfelice]

I know everyone complains about single-side loading and unloading but I haven't seen any mention of the Wingriders. Gatekeeper for example beat the numbers of every other coaster at Cedar Point this year by a mile, and they got those trains in and out incredibly quickly. I understand why flush loading is more convenient, but does it really make THAT big of a difference?

 

I know Cedar Point's numbers aren't entirely based on capacity and popularity / up-time plays a part too but for Gatekeeper to handily beat Raptor's numbers the way it did is impressive, and Gatekeeper is load / unload on the same side for obvious reasons.

 

I've never operated a coaster so I'm just speaking from my own personal observations. I'd love to hear from someone who has a little more knowledge on this about how much of an issue this really is.

 

The Secrets to Keeping Gatekeeper Efficient (from experience working GK):

1. Once the train parks, open the air gates. You might think this is a recipe for a clusterf*ck, but it works.

2. If you are loading sections that are not the front, and a line of exiting guests is preventing oncoming guests from boarding, politely hold back the exiting guests so the oncoming guests can be seated. By the time you are done checking restraints the exiting guests will be long gone out of the way.

3. Learn to spin and move through people like Wayne Gretzky.

4. That stupid bag rule works. I believe they should find a way to install more tiny bins like on SeaWorld's Manta so guests don't complain as much about the ride having big enough bins after they were told to pay for lockers. << Really?

 

I have no problems with GK's same side loading station as they designed to have enough space for traffic to move decently.

[Seddy]

I think BTR at SFOG is one of the worst stations because of the heat. I like how they themed the station but those makeshift rock walls are like sheets of foil that retains the heat. Back when it first opened it was nice and cool in there thanks to the AC but after a while, maintenance just gave up on keeping the AC up and running.

 

Dèja Vu's station can be confusing if there is no attemdant on crowd control duty. As long as someone is grouping guests in groups of 2, per row, it works fine. And it also helps fill the trains when u have single riders.

[GwaziBSRider1]

^ I didn't experience the heat issue on SFOG's, but I sure did on SFGAdv's. It was so hot and miserable in the station and queue. I don't think there was any ventilation at all, and it didn't help that it was 90 degrees on the day I rode it. I almost collapsed from heat exhaustion in the queue.

[YoshiFan]

Yeah the stairs are especially bad for Batman at Great Adventure. Even when it's a walk on or station wait, just walking through the stairs is annoying.

[Seddy]

^Yea.. I think all BTR clones have those steps leading up to the station. Theres nothing worse than being on those stairs, getting all excited and hearing "Ladies and gentlemen... May I have your attention please... The Riddler has hijacked the Batmobile and we must temporarily discontinue operations at this time"

[gerstlaueringvar]

I agree that Batman clones have pretty bad queues. The tunnels are truly annoying, especially in hot summer when the park turned off the AC